Here’s an easy rule. Imagine that you own a million dollar race horse. Would you feed it Doritos and Coke?

The next time you cram something questionable down your face ask yourself if you would feed it to your horse. If it’s not good enough for your horse could it possibly be good enough for you?

“Hustler… Dove all over the floor”

He was hungry to be better and these are the kids we love. He does not argue calls with officials. He respects the game. He has never had a problem with coaches or teammates. He does something you rarely see…he blocks out and plays defense. He has been our best on-the-ball defender for two years and the guy we consistently ask to shut down the opponent’s best scorer. He has earned a reputation as a stopper. He is tough.

Sam understands that if your goal is to be a good high school player you will make decisions from that perspective…but if you are aiming at playing at a very high level in college then you will make different decisions. You have to be a completely different person…and you have to surround yourself with positive minded people that are capable of helping you get from where you are now to where you want to be. At the close of the summer season we worked together with Sam to come up with an off-season program to move him to another level and to help him to meet his goals.

He has been working Monday – Thursday at Progeny Park with trainers Shon Bolden and Reese Neely. He has increased his strength, improved his shooting through thousands of reps on the gun, improved his post game and ball handling, and has increased his vertical jumping ability. He’s met his goals and he goes into the high school season in as good of shape as he can be.

We measured his vert at 29 inches at the end of the summer. He’s been through the wars this fall with the trainers and the Super Cat and the now famous Mike Tyson workout. His last vertical measurement was 34 inches. This is only the start for Sam who is junior this year. Don’t bet against Sammy. He’s going to outwork everybody and finish on the top of the heap.

What do you do with 5 extra inches of vert? Take a look.

A final thought…from the Gym Jones training site.

“If your goal is important – and you work as hard as you possibly can, pay attention every hour of every day and then maybe, maybe if you’ve done enough and been smart enough you’ll emerge from the muck of mediocrity to shine a bit brighter than you shone before. Then, upon reflection you might decide your goal is a bit more important so you’ll start paying attention every minute of every hour of every day. You’ll find people who are better than you and you’ll take an empty cup when you meet them. Their example will destroy or inspire you and if it’s the latter you may stay and learn. You might imitate, doing as they do because you’ve already accepted that you do not know best – if you did you’d be leading the group they were trying to join. Perhaps being exposed to their superior ability will drive you to work harder than you thought possible, or necessary. Maybe you’ll overcome your self-imposed (or worse, society-imposed) limitations and shine even more brightly. Wow, you’re getting it: positive reinforcement for hard work and suffering. So maybe you give your goal even more significance and you begin cutting away the ideas and the expectations and the people who you believe prevent you from achieving it. Now you begin paying attention every second of every minute of every hour of every day, and you sustain your awareness for weeks and months at a time. You’re the biggest fish in the pond. Now you have options.”

Sam will play this one on one series throughout the fall. He’s 6-4 and can jump out of the gym but he will not win a single game. In each loss he will get a little tougher. He is doing jump training, working on the supercat, suffering through endless Tyson squats, putting up thousands of shots, becoming functionally stronger, and working through individual workouts with Reese Neely and Shon Bolden.

The accumulation of little things is not little. His game has improved drastically. Somebody will say that he was an overnight success. He will know better.

What did you do this off-season to improve? Are you doing everything you can to be the best possible player and person that you can be? Are you surrounded by people that can take you there?

The light shines in the darkness.

You must ask yourself if you wish to become a well-developed player or if you wish to become a weapon…which through grueling, self-inflicted punishment turns into a devastating machine.

Who is Frank Matrisciano and why is he trying to kill Blake Griffin?

The players made their plans for strength and vertical work on the SuperCat and took home their EAS protein. We now have EAS post workout drinks at Progeny Park. This is part of the nutrition program that we have been working on.

We’re looking forward to a great July.

Keep working hard.